Hasbro lost the G1 ponies?

[hathorcat]

We cant completely blame Hasbro for the retro ponies not being adored however...they asked us how much we were willing to spend and when we came back with a $5 per pony answer well they didnt have tonnes of ways they could both fulfil the quality and price aspect of the product.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

We cant completely blame Hasbro for the retro ponies not being adored however...they asked us how much we were willing to spend and when we came back with a $5 per pony answer well they didnt have tonnes of ways they could both fulfil the quality and price aspect of the product.

Very very true Hathorcat!  It wasn't the $15 price that put me off though... it was the materials.  I just didn't think they were that aesthetic for MLP.  And clearly Hasbro couldn't make prototypes with different materials and ask which we liked best.   

Like I said, at the time I didn't realize how powerful the consumer's purchasing power really is.  I would have bought a whole case of $5 quality re-releases if it meant we got G1 re-issues for the conventions and special releases now.

[rtattles]

We cant completely blame Hasbro for the retro ponies not being adored however...they asked us how much we were willing to spend and when we came back with a $5 per pony answer well they didnt have tonnes of ways they could both fulfil the quality and price aspect of the product.

I'm not sure if we'll get any more quality than before even if we're willing to shell out more for each pony. Hasbro will just churn more cheap crap and charge us more because to them we're just annoying freaks who have nothing to do but to bug them about coloured plastic horses allll daaayyyy long. I mean you go to the pony fairs and most people can tell you the Hasbro staff are mostly quite clueless about what is happening in the toyline like they didn't even know Pinkie Pie has a pet alligator in the cartoon. I was at the fair in 2008 and to Hasbro it was "OMG, the retros and the originals look EXACTLY the same!!! Our techniques are amazing!" ...while we were like "er.....NNNNN-OOOOOO!!!!"

[bewilderness]

I also blame Hasbro's distribution.  I never did find the retro rainbow ponies and I wanted to buy both sets of those and might have bought extras for customizing.

[LadyMoondancer]

I never saw the retro Rainbow ponies either.

I would've paid more for the retro ponies if they'd been better quality.  I did buy a set of the Collector retros even so, but man . . . thinnest, cheapest hair ever!  It was especially bad because that pose tends to fall forward in a nosedive without a really weighty tail to counterbalance it.

[Sunset]

For me, I would have bought more of the retro ponies if they had been made in alternate poses. I mean most of us already have the originals of all of those ponies, why would we buy duplicates that are exactly the same only more cheaply made?  But I think that a lot of the quality concerns would have been over looked if there was a Cotton Candy in Bowtie's pose for example.

[brighteyes]

Yep, they were poorly received by a lot of fans in the pony community at that time.  I remember the G3 days on the Arena were full of just as many complaints as G4s are now.   Just not ALL about QC. 

I must sadly admit that I myself have a part in this failure because I saw them multiple times, complained about I didn't like the brighter and more reflective plastics used instead of the muted pastels in the originals, then didn't buy them.  If I had realized that my actions would become a nail in the coffin for Hasbro's plans to cater to collectors, I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT THEM.  *cry cry cry*

Ah well... hindsight and almost 5 years life experience later...   

Awww that's so sad!  I remember the complaints about the G3 quality- and the tinsel hate LOL but I don't think I was as active on the forums when the collectors re-releases came out so I had not idea they were poorly received.  That's so sad!  I wish I had bought a dozen too   

ETA:  I saw the collectors pose ones frequently after they came out but I only ever found the rainbow ponies once.  I did find both at a discount store some time later in South Bend called "Dealz" (yeah with a Z!) for about 10$ each if I recall.  I guess that should have been a tip off that they didn't do to well.

[hathorcat]

I think it depends...I think if we had said "oh wow you want to do us special collectors ponies...fantastic...we will pay $60 for a set of 6] then I think we would have got better quality and a better finish and an all round better product. But as you say the cheap purchase price meant a cheap finish and cheap materials - so they were largely unappealing to the eye of a collector.

I guess the tester on what Hasbro can do with a bigger buy in price may be for this years Fair - the price of the "pony" [and its in quotes as I have a weird feeling its going to be more John De Lancie and less pony but thats speculation] is $50 - lets see what they can deliver!

[Sunset]

I just want to say that if this years exlusive is a nonpony figure I will not be buying it no matter how nicely it is done.  I collect My Little Pony!  It would be fine for a general release, but as an exclusive?  That's even more of a disservice to long time fans than what they did last year by making us share an exclusive with sdcc (and I'm sure it will be the same this year.) 

[StarberryTart]

I would have purchased the retro ponies recently but the facial/head molds don't look the same. It looks like the faces are narrower and longer than the original ponies, not to mention the eyes appearing to be smaller. The vintage ones looked so cute. I don't know how they produced the retro ponies, but it wasn't affective. 

[Ice Crystal]

I always thought Hasbro would have some luck with releasing G1 characters in new moulds, so G4 moulds at the moment.

I wasn't collecting ponies when the retro ponies were released. It's a real shame they didn't do well.

[LadyMoondancer]

I think it depends...I think if we had said "oh wow you want to do us special collectors ponies...fantastic...we will pay $60 for a set of 6] then I think we would have got better quality and a better finish and an all round better product. But as you say the cheap purchase price meant a cheap finish and cheap materials - so they were largely unappealing to the eye of a collector.

I agree with this.  I remember a lot of people posting things like "I said $5 each, because that is how much current ponies are"--ignoring the fact that they would have to make special molds, do special packaging, and would be selling to a niche collectors market.

It was a massive facepalm.   I've seen some glorious retro toys for the Transformers, He-Man, and others, but you have to be willing to pay more for them.

[scarletjul]

I think it depends...I think if we had said "oh wow you want to do us special collectors ponies...fantastic...we will pay $60 for a set of 6] then I think we would have got better quality and a better finish and an all round better product. But as you say the cheap purchase price meant a cheap finish and cheap materials - so they were largely unappealing to the eye of a collector.

I agree with this.  I remember a lot of people posting things like "I said $5 each, because that is how much current ponies are"--ignoring the fact that they would have to make special molds, do special packaging, and would be selling to a niche collectors market.

It was a massive facepalm.   I've seen some glorious retro toys for the Transformers, He-Man, and others, but you have to be willing to pay more for them.

I don't think I was around yet on the forums when they were asking prices - I would have gladly paid $50+ for a nice, collector's edition pony.  I readily spend that on collector edition Barbies and Disney dolls.

My issue with the g1 trademarks is not, so much, that they couldn't use them.  It is that it seemed much more likely that they just wanted to continue their investment from the g3 days (Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash) rather than try to bring back the g1s.  That is fine.  What I never understood why, if that was the case, why Hasbro couldn't just stay so.  For me, that always bothered me more.

[Enolaalone]

I never saw the retro Rainbow ponies either.

I would've paid more for the retro ponies if they'd been better quality.  I did buy a set of the Collector retros even so, but man . . . thinnest, cheapest hair ever!  It was especially bad because that pose tends to fall forward in a nosedive without a really weighty tail to counterbalance it.

My Cotton Candy is ALWAYS pitching forwards. She's like kamikaze MLP, she's always falling off the table or pitching into something. It drives me crazy! 

[HavACrumpet452]

They could have released different sets of the retros instead of the worlds most common ponies. The rainbow ponies aren't so bad but the CP ponies are useless at standing. Did they not test this out? They do now have a couple molds based on G1's because of the retros. One arth, one peg, and one unicorn. They could use the molds they made for them to re-release more G1's, they just won't be in their original poses. And Seaflower's mold is still around and being used by fakie companies.